Chapter 17: A "Surprise" for Her Stepmother

These clothes looked good? Were Xia Lian and Yun Yiyi blind? If they were truly beautiful, why didn't they wear them

themselves?

"That poor girl, lost her mother and got saddled with a stepmother like that. She probably still doesn't even understand

what hit her!"

"Come to think of it, when the Yun family's original wife was still alive, she used to bring her daughter out to events

too. The little girl was so adorable back then-clever and pretty. After Xia Lian took over, Yun Manxia was always

messing things up. I hear she's been completely ostracized from the socialite circle by now..."

Whispers rippled through the crowd. Suspicious gazes began landing on Xia Lian from all directions.

Both Xia Lian and Yun Yiyi's expressions shifted.

Yun Yiyi barely maintained her smile. "Manxia, what are you talking about? Didn't you say you wanted to wear that dress

yourself?"

Yun Manxia put on a look of genuine surprise, her elegant brows furrowing with distaste. "I'm not lacking in normal

aesthetic sense. Why would I want to wear something so ugly? You're the ones who talked me into it every time. Second

Sister even did my makeup like that. You always said it looked great, but I hated every minute of it!"

The looks directed at the mother-daughter pair grew even stranger.

Yun Yiyi's lips stiffened. She shot an urgent glance at her mother, pleading for help.

Xia Lian walked over with a gentle smile. "Alright, alright. I misunderstood. I thought you liked it, so I had Yiyi

dress you up that way. If you don't like it, then we simply won't do it anymore."

Yun Hong had just entered the hall. Hearing the commotion, he came over. The moment he saw Yun Manxia, his brow

furrowed. "What's going on?"

Xia Lian sighed. "Manxia is upset. She thinks the dresses Yiyi and I picked for her before were forced on her. But I

genuinely thought she liked them, so I asked Yiyi to help her get dressed..."

Beside her, Yun Yiyi cooperated with a perfectly crafted expression of being wronged.

Yun Hong's face darkened the instant he heard this. He snapped at Yun Manxia, "Your sister was kind enough to help you,

and she's in the wrong?"

Yun Manxia's smile faded. She looked at the man before her-her father.

He had always been like this. Every time she and Yun Yiyi had a conflict, he never bothered to ask what happened. His

first reaction was always to reprimand her, as though everything was automatically her fault.

She'd always felt so wounded. She was his biological daughter. Why did he always take Yun Yiyi's side?

She used to wonder if it was because Yun Yiyi had no blood relation to him-was an outsider-so he felt it was harder to

discipline her, and instead came down on his own flesh and blood.

But later, she discovered how wrong she was. Catastrophically wrong!

Stepdaughter? Yun Yiyi was his illegitimate daughter!

Think about Yun Yiyi's age. How much older was she than Yun Manxia? Six months!

And Xia Lian's eldest daughter, now in the imperial capital, was already twenty-one-two years older than Yun Manxia.

Which meant he'd been involved with Xia Lian long before her mother was gone!

Lowering her head to mask the cold fury in her eyes, Yun Manxia thought of her mother, who had died in an accident when

she was five.

It had better have truly been an accident. Otherwise...

She would make those two wish they were dead!

Raising her eyes, she said, "Dad, am I really your biological daughter? Why are you good to my eldest sister, good to my

second sister, but never good to me? Even when I've done nothing wrong, you always blame me."

She glanced at Yun Yiyi standing beside him. "Second Sister looks more like your real daughter standing next to you. I'm

the one who looks like the stepchild!"

Both Xia Lian and Yun Yiyi's faces froze.

Yun Hong's face turned an ashen, thunderous gray.

"What nonsense are you spouting?!"

The surrounding guests couldn't resist sneaking glances, and several couldn't help but feel-as if for the first

time-that Yun Yiyi and Yun Hong did look somewhat alike...

Xia Lian's heart clenched. Terrified someone might notice the resemblance, she scrambled to smooth things over. "Enough,

enough. Manxia just said something offhand. Why lose your temper with her over it?"

She played the part of the caring stepmother perfectly-feigning concern for Yun Manxia, coming to her rescue-when in

truth she just wanted to shut this topic down immediately.

Without waiting for anyone to respond, she smiled warmly at Yun Manxia. "Did Manxia prepare a birthday gift for me?"

A birthday gift?

Yun Manxia smiled.

This was exactly why she'd come today.

She beckoned. Someone stepped forward from behind her, carrying the birthday gift she'd brought.

The box was opened to reveal a document-and a pen.

Xia Lian's eyes instantly burned with heat.

Yun Manxia looked up, catching the greed that flashed through the older woman's eyes in a single unguarded instant.

Her lips curved coldly as she addressed Xia Lian. "Starting from four years ago, every year on Auntie Lian's birthday,

I've given the same gift-shares in Jiahuang Entertainment, left to me by my mother. Ten percent each year. Four years

makes exactly forty percent."

Xia Lian's eyes grew even more eager. Yes-forty percent. She was only one year's worth, eleven percent, away from

surpassing the Gu family's holdings and becoming the company's largest shareholder!

She waited for Yun Manxia to hand her the document. Then she would sign her name in a flash.

Just as she'd anticipated, Yun Manxia picked up the document, picked up the pen, and brought them to her.

The smile on Xia Lian's lips deepened. She reached out to accept them. The next second, she saw the text on the

paper-and her smile froze solid, certain she must be reading it wrong.

At that exact moment, Yun Manxia's voice rang out-

"Auntie Lian said before that I was too young, and that holding those shares myself wasn't safe, so she'd keep them for

me. So I gave them to her as birthday gifts."

"But now I've thought about it, and I'm nineteen years old. It probably isn't that unsafe anymore, is it? Besides, my

husband will help me manage things from now on, so there's no need to leave them with Auntie Lian anymore."

"I'm so grateful to Auntie Lian for keeping them safe for me all these years. Now, Auntie Lian can give them back."

Yun Manxia beamed, as though she had never once doubted her stepmother's intentions, as though she trusted her

completely.

Xia Lian looked up in sheer disbelief. For the first time in public, she nearly lost control of her composure.

"Manxia, you..."

"Is something wrong?" Yun Manxia looked at her, perplexed. "Auntie Lian, why aren't you signing?"

None of the guests had expected this development. Probe after probe, their eyes swept over Xia Lian again and again as

they whispered to one another.

"If I remember correctly, the other major shareholder of Jiahuang Entertainment is the Gu family? The maternal family of

Yun Manxia's biological mother, Gu Wanyin? When Gu Wanyin passed away, the shares left to her daughter were managed by

the Gu family-and that wasn't safe?"

"What 'not safe'? That was just an excuse. Her own maternal grandfather isn't safe, but a stepmother is? It was

obviously just a way to trick a little girl..."

"Look at her face-she can barely keep it together. She doesn't want to sign..."

Listening to these murmurs, Xia Lian nearly cracked. In that moment, she was certain of one thing-Yun Manxia, that

wretched girl, had truly changed!

Someone behind the scenes was pulling her strings!